SDSU BioScience Center to bear Shiley name

San Diego State University’s BioScience Center will be renamed in honor of the late inventor and philanthropist Donald P. Shiley as the result of a $5 million gift from his widow, Darlene Shiley.

The donation was announced Saturday night at a gala celebrating SDSU President Stephen L. Weber, who is retiring in July, and his wife, Susan.

“The university is truly going to sorely miss this man,” Darlene Shiley said in an interview Tuesday. “The BioScience Center is something Steve really believed in. I was trying to think of what to get him for a going-away present. Donald and I always wanted either to start someone’s dream off or finish it off.

“This is helping finish Steve’s legacy at San Diego State as well as honoring my husband’s legacy.”

Donald Shiley died in August at age 90. He invented the Bjork-Shiley heart valve that has been credited with saving 500,000 lives worldwide since the 1970s.

The Shileys have been among the region’s leading philanthropists, with multimillion-dollar gifts to the Old Globe Theatre, the University of California San Diego and other institutions.

They’ve also been longtime supporters of SDSU, notably of the musical theater master’s program and KPBS broadcasting, but the gift announced Saturday is the largest the family has made to the university.

“It establishes our scientific presence in the name of my husband on all three of the major campuses in San Diego — USD, UCSD and SDSU,” Shiley said.

The donation is $3.75 million, which will be added to the $1.25 million the couple had given to the BioScience Center in 2008. Shiley also pledged $1 million for scholarships.

Weber said the gift ranks among the top 12 SDSU has received in its history.

“This is particularly meaningful,” Weber said. “Donald Shiley has saved hundreds of thousands of lives. He’s obviously left a huge humanitarian legacy. Now we can attach Donald’s name to a facility on our campus. It serves as an endorsement for the campus and its work.”

The name change is dependent on the approval of the California State University Board of Trustees.

Dr. Roberta Gottlieb, a physician and director of the BioScience Center, said the gift will allow the center to build out its research space and add about five faculty researchers to the 10 already there.

“The central focus for the BioScience Center is the connection between infection, inflammation and heart disease,” Gottlieb said. “Part of our long-term mission is not only to develop new knowledge, but to develop products or therapies that can benefit patients. This gift will allow us to expand the research operation to achieve that goal.”